Kyrgyzstan faced further unrest, which was seen by many as a clumsy attempt to overthrow the country’s shaky government. Despite the fact that mass disorder was successfully averted, the risk of new attempts at violent upheaval in view of the upcoming parliamentary elections remains high.

On August 5, a group of nearly 1500 protesters, who were marching from the eastern town of Balykchy and led by the controversial politician and businessman Urmat Baryktabasov, were prevented from entering the capital city. They intended to take part in a kurultai (a public gathering aimed at praising Baryktabasov’s plan for the country’s political and economic development) in Bishkek. Kyrgyz law enforcement bodies mounted a roadblock at the outskirts of Bishkek and deployed hundreds of police forces to stop the aggressive and allegedly armed protesters from entering the city.

In the meantime, around 2,000 people gathered in front of the Parliament building in Bishkek and demanded that Baryktabasov and his supporters be allowed to enter the capital city and conduct the planned kurultai. With no response from the authorities, the demonstrators dispersed, some of them heading to suburban Bishkek to join the main group.

As the standoff intensified between police and protesters, negotiations were held between the authorities and Baryktabasov. As the authorities later claimed, Baryktabasov put out three unrealistic demands: to allow him to conduct the kurultai in Bishkek, to stop criminal proceedings against him instituted under Bakiyev’s regime and to appoint him Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan. When the government refused to fulfill these demands, the protesters tried to break through the police cordons. In response, the police decisively dispersed the crowd using tear gas, noise grenades and rubber bullets. As a result of the clashes, four people were hospitalized and several sustained minor injuries. A few hours later, Baryktabasov was caught and arrested while driving to his hometown of Balykchy.

A “successful businessman”, Urmat Baryktabasov stepped into Kyrgyzstan’s political arena in 2005 as leader of the political party “Meken Tuu” (Fatherland’s flag). He was ineligible to run for the presidency due to his Kazakh citizenship, and he and a few thousand of his supporters organized an attempt to seize the government building in June 2005. However, he failed to overthrow the government and was forced to leave the country when criminal cases were initiated against him. Baryktabasov spent five years in exile and returned to Kyrgyzstan in June 2010.

According to his party’s website, he headed huge oil and construction companies in neighboring Kazakhstan and even worked as a deputy Mayor of Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital city. Baryktabasov apparently holds dual citizenship of both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. As the Kyrgyz Interior Minister Kubatbek Baibolov stated in his interview to one of the local news agencies on August 5, 2010, Astana asked for Baryktabasov’s extradition to Kazakhstan, where he is wanted for economic crimes and embezzlement charges. “Kyrgyzstan is willing to extradite Baryktabasov to Kazakhstan if our neighbors really want it”, Baibolov concluded.

Prior to and after these events, Kyrgyz authorities claimed that under the pretext of a peaceful demonstration, Baryktabasov was planning a violent upheaval. “These events were planned for a few months and aimed at a forcible seizure of power”, said Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva at a press conference on August 5. “For that purpose, various criminal groups were involved in organizing and leading the crowd”, she concluded.

The Interior Ministry and the State Security Service issued official statements claiming that the protesters were armed and paid. As a result of the joint operation of police and security services, 27 people were arrested, dozens of units of weapons and other ammunitions were seized, the statements said. Moreover, Keneshbek Duishebaev, head of the State Security Service, stated at the press conference that the unrest was financed by members of the former President’s family. “Several millions of soms were allocated for these events by Bakiyev’s family. We have enough evidence of it”, he claimed.

Many political experts agree that Baryktabasov has the support of “particular political forces. He is just a front figure and he is implementing someone’s orders”, stated local political expert Mars Sariev. These events are only part of full-fledged attempts to destabilize the situation in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections, the analyst said.

The fate of Baryktabasov remains unknown. The Kyrgyz General Prosecutor’s office instituted several criminal cases, including charges of attempting to overthrow the government and organizing mass disorder against the disgraced political leader and his close supporters. At the same time, the possibility his extradition to Kazakhstan remains high.

Meanwhile, on August 10, President Otunbaeva announced the date of the parliamentary elections, which will be held on October 10, 2010. The same day she signed a decree on switching to special operating mode for all state bodies to prevent outbreaks of mass disorder and to stabilize the situation in the country.